STAR stands for "Situation, Task, Action, and Result," the STAR method allows you to give a specific example, contextualize your answer, highlight the outcomes and successes while also being clear, specific, and concise.
Here are a few examples:
"Give me an example of when you worked well on a team."
S – "In my last job, I worked in customer service at a call center. The CS department was split into smaller teams of five which created silos at times."
T – Each team had daily and weekly goals set by management.
A – I took the initiative to set up weekly team meetings to learn about new product updates, increase team communication, and create momentum.
R – As a result, our CS team earned the highest Net Promoter Score for new products.
"Describe a time you delivered excellent customer service following a complaint."
S – "As a front desk agent, I had a client call complaining that she had waited more than a week for a reply from our team.
T – I needed to address the client's concerns, determine why the client was not contacted, and ensure their experience was improved.
A – First, I apologized to the client and empathized with how frustrating the situation must have been for her. After gathering all the necessary information from the customer, I informed her I would personally look into the issue.
R – I was able to determine that the contact information was incorrect on the customer's profile. Together with my manager, we called the client within the hour and offered a discount on her next order. The client continued to order from us and left positive feedback on my performance with my manager."
"Tell us about a time you identified a weakness and how you improved?"
S – "My role as the project manager was to maximize the agile methodologies through the project management life cycle, including budgeting, mapping, and scrum framework.
T – When I joined the team, I led the transition from Waterfall to Agile methodologies for the web development teams ."
A – by facilitating increment planning sessions, implemented Asana to support transparent communication and the tracking of day-to-day activity.
R – As a result, I not only transitioned the team to agile, but we increased the team's efficiency and exceeded both budget and time OKRs."